Dugout Devotions | Jesus's Prayers
Teaching Kids About the Psalms
The Psalms are a collection of prayers found in the Old Testament. These 150 prayers cover every aspect of life. There are praise, hymns, lament, thanksgiving, remembrance, wisdom, and more psalms. The long and short of it is that if you ever need to pray and are not sure what to say (aside from using the Lord’s Prayer) the psalms are a great resource to the Church.
Psalm 23 is one of the most memorized parts of the Christian Bible. We have read it at every funeral or memorial service I have officiated. No matter the translation, more people can recite this psalm from memory than cannot.
Remind your children that they do not always have to know exactly what to say when they pray to God because God knows what is on their hearts. God is able to make sense of what we are thinking and praying when we cannot make sense of ourselves.
Take a moment and read Psalms 23, 25, and 28. What type of psalm do you think each psalm is?
The psalms are also Jesus’s prayer book. Jesus would have prayed these prayers with his parents in their home, the synagogue, and the temple.
Because Psalm 23 tells us that God loves each and every one of you. And because God loves you, Psalm 23 tells us that God is going to always take care of you. The way God takes care of you may look different from the way God takes care of someone else, but it is a promise that no matter what is happening, whether we are not feeling well, maybe we’re playing baseball, maybe we have a test at school, or we’re just having a really hard day, God is always going to be with us. God will always care for us. And that is great news, isn’t it?!
Consider the following questions the next time you are heading to or from the dugout:
What feelings or emotions do you experience when you read Psalm 23? How does it make you feel about God's presence in your life?
Can you think of a time when you felt like you were walking through a dark valley, like the one mentioned in Psalm 23? How did you feel God's presence with you during that time?
Psalm 23 talks about God as a shepherd who takes care of his sheep. What are some ways you see God taking care of you and your family in your daily lives?
Invite your children to pray the following prayer with you:
Dear God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for teaching me how to pray. And thank you for always caring for me. Help me care for other people in the ways that you want me to care for them. We'll talk to you later. Amen.